Saturday, June 29, 2013

- The Yankees have lost 4 of their last 5 games, 6 of their last 9, 11 of their last 16, and 19 of their last 31.

- They've scored 4 or fewer runs in 6 of their last 10 games and 14 of their last 20.

- In the month of June, they rank dead last in MLB in: Runs (83), Home Runs (17), SLG (.326), wOBA (.270), and wRC+ (65)

- They rank second to last in: Hits (181), RBI (80), Batting Average (.221), and OBP (.287)

- For the season, their team batting line is now down to .239/.301/.379 (.297 wOBA, 83 wRC+). If the entire Yankee offense was one player, they would be Drew Stubbs. That sound you hear is this team's ship sinking. Something needs to change with the construction of this roster and it needs to change soon.

There was a bit of confusion yesterday afternoon when the Yankees announced that David Phelps had been scratched from his scheduled start and CC Sabathia would pitch in his place. After a brief stir of wondering what happened to Phelps, it turned out last night was always supposed to be CC's scheduled day to pitch and a mistake had been made in setting the rotation order for the series. It was CC's first shot at getting his 200th career win, an impressive milestone for any pitcher in any era but one even more impressive in today's baseball world where 300 now looks out of the question. Sabathia looked well on his way to getting that win early before things fell apart in the later innings. Once again, the Yankee offense was nowhere to be found to help him in those late innings and the Yanks lost their 3rd straight.

Game Notes:

- The lineup wasted no time in getting CC a lead in the top of the 1st. Brett Gardner doubled to lead off the game, came around to score an a single by Robinson Cano, and it was 1-0.

- They stretched it to 3-0 in the top of the 3rd on a pair of RBI singles by Vernon Wells and Chris Stewart. Jayson Nix and Cano set the table with singles of their own and the cushion was built.

- CC made it stand up through 5 innings with little issue. In fact, he didn't allow a single hit in those 5 innings. He had all his pitches working, threw them at different times in the count, and used his slider to neutralize the big Baltimore lefty hitters. Dude was cruising.

- Then he hit a speed bump in the 6th. After a Nate McLouth single and an Alexi Casilla infield single that David Adams basically let happen by trying to field the ball at first instead of covering the bag, Manny Machado doubled to right to score them both. He came around to tie the game on another infield single off the bat of Adam Jones.

- McLouth struck the final death blow in the next inning, crushing a hanging 1-0 slider to right for the go-ahead HR. CC stormed off the mound and threw a bit of a tantrum in the dugout after the inning and with good reason. He let the game get away after being handed a lead.

- But give the offense credit. They did their part to make sure there would be comeback, failing to get even 1 baserunner to second base or beyond from the 4th inning on. You pretty much have to make no mistakes with this group supporting you right now, and CC made too many mistakes in the 6th-7th innings.